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Isabell

Isabell is also upset at attacks in anonymous postings on Internet sites against her and other riders over training methods that she said varies with each horse and depends on temperament, body type and other factors.

“You have to find the key for each horse,” she said. “One horse needs to be ridden a bit lower, the next one up. One needs more work, one less work.

“I really don’t know why it came to this.”

“What we all don’t want to see are pictures where we attack a horse, where the horse is pressured, punished. It doesn’t mean that we are not allowed to ride the horse. There may be moments when the horse is a bit too low, too up. You cannot show each step in a perfect way.

“To find the perfect way, needs exercises. You compare the education of a horse with the education of a child. It needs years to come from a five or six-year-old to S level or Grand Prix.

“Some of the criticism is helpful and fair and constructive.

“Some is just silly, without any serious basics. It doesn’t mean one who is criticizing a rider should be top rider. But there should be respect. We shouldn’t make discussions because of one bad picture. It doesn’t mean we don’t want negative reactions or criticism, but we want it in a fair and respectful way.

“We don’t want to be shouted at as an idiot.

“My philosophy is that to show a horse perfectly in competition, you need a horse full of self confidence and life, that the horse may jump in the arena